


changing me without you

by orphan_account



Category: Firefly, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Stargate, Atlantis, Character Death, Crossover, F/M, Portals
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2014-07-14
Packaged: 2018-02-08 19:51:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1954065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account





	changing me without you

Simon's body was already growing cold in her arms as the world settled back around her, the whirling blue of the portal swirling disappearing.

_Why. Why had she agreed to go on this gorram mission with him, to an Alliance base of all things. Didn't they leave so that they could be free of all this?_

The miles around her were empty, 'cept for her, the stone circle, and the cooling body of her husband in her arms.

_They were done with this. River was doing fine._

The grave wasn't all that hard to dig. Unceremonious, a bit messy, had to make use of a ditch, but there was no time. It pained her to leave him like this, but a war and the years had stripped her of her squeamishness.

_Mal had Inara, living nicely on their own little ship. Proper business he takes on now, since she quit being a Companion. Zoe and Jayne were mercenaries for hire, sought after_ _by smugglers and businessmen alike due to their fearsome reputation._

She managed to find a flower to put on the mound. It was something. Not even close to what he deserved.

_Serenity had been given to River, who had explored the skies. Had._

Stupid, stupid hero, she thought as she ran. Always had to be a gorram savior.

_River got him onto the idea of the stupid alliance base, where they were working with other girls like her. They could do more then just telepathy and empathy now, moved on to alternate universes now. The girls were the key, apparently. Big stuff._

Well, she could be a savior too. She'd seen Simon do his doctoring plenty of times. Even started helping him recently. She had learned. Healing people had made Simon feel whole, and that's all she had left of him.

_To big for them to mix up in._

She was a quick learner. Learned how to forge stuff, too. Documents and medical papers couldn't be that different.

_Simon had insisted they check it out. They had to do something. He could share what he learned from River, help them._

She could pass Med school. Simon would help her. Her memories of him.

_But the Alliance had gone to far, too deep, and in the firefight that followed they had been slumped against that control panel, next to the huge stone circle and River was saying she could read it, get Kaylee and Simon out of there._

Need a new name too. Simon had wanted them to have a family, but Kaylee kept putting it off, wanting to wait for them to be older. He had wanted a daughter. Jen, that's what he would have called her. Jennifer.

_She had tried._

She couldn't use Tam, or Frye here. Had to leave all connections to her, her past, her husband-

_But them Alliance men had those guns, firing beams of light and River was dancing kicking them all as she pushed Kaylee and Simon through that blue water-like screen that just appeared and Kaylee had known then that this was too big, too big for her world._

Keller was her mother's maiden name, before she died. Loved her mother.

_it hadn't been fast enough. Those stupid beams of light from those snake-shaped guns had come near and Simon, always the hero had leapt in front of her._

Kaylee reached the edge of the woods and saw the city, the ocean, and there it was: exactly like Earth-that-was. Was this the past? Had they sent her to the past? No, this was more . . . farther then the past.

_The last thing that rang through the air before the wormhole enveloped them was the twin screams of "Simon!" from his wife and sister._

Took her a week to settle in to her surroundings. The clothes and money were easy, Mal had taught her well. The medical took time, but she was a fast learner. the military? Now that was different.

_She was stuck in that wormhole or whatever for what felt like hours, days, and all she could do was feel the body of her Simon, her doctor, her love slowly cool down, the light die out of his eyes, his smile fade and his voice, the one that never pushed her for kids or a family or settling down even though she knew that's what he wanted to fade.  She had an eternity in that wormhole to harden herself, make herself anew._

But Kaylee was good at decoding, and she found them, found the Stargates and the aliens and all the things that were too big for her, the ones that took her comfy world and her friends and her love and she embraced them, because sweet little mechanic Kaylee Tam had no place in this world.

 

 

"Yes, Doctor Weir, my name is Jennifer Keller. I'd like to apply for the Atlantis Project."


End file.
